Overton Square programming continues to evolve

Before a concert gets underway, musicians will run through a soundcheck that serves as a kind of warm-up to the main event, during which participants can make suggestions for tweaks before the big show and can make sure that everything is done that needs to be.

At some point, if enough Memphis Police officers call in sick, the job action underway since the end of June could be considered a strike by the city of Memphis. And that would signal a new phase in what is the most significant job action by Memphis Police since the 1978 police and fire strikes.

National Hispanic Professional Organization-Memphis will meet Thursday, July 10, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hilton Memphis, 939 Ridge Lake Blvd. Martha Perine Beard, president of the Federal Reserve in Memphis, will speak. Cost is free for members and $20 for nonmembers. Email info@nhpomemphis.us.

For about a year, Memphis Fire Department Director Alvin Benson has been taking ladder trucks out of service to deal with firefighters on vacation and on sick leave at much lower levels than those that surfaced Wednesday.

The president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber says efforts by municipal union leaders to boycott business members of the chamber and get those businesses to drop their chamber membership is having only a minimal effect.

The state of Tennessee has offered to direct Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers to Memphis to help fill manpower gaps as a result of the hundreds of Memphis Police officers who’ve called in sick over the last week.

Memphis Fire Director Alvin Benson admits the 65 firefighters out sick Wednesday, July 9, is “the highest number we’ve had off sick in one day for some time." However, he declined to call it a job action.

Ray's take: The world of banking is evolving. Over the past decade we’ve seen an increase in the number of online only, or alternative banks. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on whom you talk to about it.

NEW YORK (AP) – Pamela Prince-Eason isn't letting women business owners off the hook – if they want more contracts with big corporations or the government, they have to work harder to get them than they do now.

WASHINGTON (AP) – In an increasingly global economy, just 1 in 10 teenagers around the world is able to make some key – but complex – financial decisions, including choosing among various loans or analyzing invoices and pay slips.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal Reserve officials had differing views in June on the best way to signal to financial markets when they might raise a key short-term interest rate. They were in broad agreement, however, that they will likely announce an end to their monthly bond buying program in October.